Woman flips the script on debt collectors


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In a twist of irony, a West Virginia woman is trying to collect money from a collection agency. Diana Mey, of Wheeling, W. Va., won the largest judgment ever against an abusive debt collection company -- more than $10 million.

From her small-town home base in Wheeling, Mey went after a debt collection empire that hounds people nationwide and won. But she still hasn't received any money.

"I don't know that I'll ever collect a dime, but if I can get their operation shut down, that would make me very happy."

Two years ago, a debt collector with a company called Reliant Financial Associates, or RFA, left a message implying that her house was in jeopardy if she didn't pay a debt. The message stated:

"I'm calling in regards to a preliminary asset liability investigation. They are in the process of serving some court documents in regards to case 29369... They have some information now pending questions at the property,... Springdale Avenue, in Wheeling, West Virginia. It is in your best interests to contact the department. You are required to contact 866-764-****."

It is illegal for debt collectors to make empty threats about serving people with a lawsuit or seizing their home. And it was especially galling to Mey, who says she is debt-free.

"They threatened to take legal action against our property and it wasn't even our debt," Mey said.

Millions of Americans are victims of this kind of mistaken debtor identity, partly because of a new breed of collectors called "debt buyers." They purchase old debts for pennies that the original creditors have given up on and then try to collect them for a big profit. Critics say debt buyers sometimes use outrageous tactics to get the money where others have failed. RFA is a debt buyer.

Mey wrote RFA a cease and desist letter, telling the company not to contact her anymore, and sent it certified mail. Postal records show exactly when RFA signed for it. Precisely 23 minutes later, Mey started getting mysterious hang-up calls that showed up on her caller ID as coming from her local county government.

"So I called the number back and it was the sheriff's department. And I asked if someone there was trying to reach me. And they said, no - nobody there was trying to reach me," Mey said.

After two days of hang-up calls from that sheriff's department number, Mey picked up another one with that same caller ID. The man on the line repeatedly called her a vulgar name for the female anatomy. He described violent sexual acts he would like to subject her to and asked if she liked to be "gang banged."

"I was so frightened. I felt violated, but then I realized, you know, I'm taping this call,." Mey said. "I pulled myself together and I thought, I can get through this. Just keep on talking buddy because we're gonna get plenty of your voice on tape."

The verbal assault went on for nearly two minutes before the man hung up.

Mey said she immediately called 911 to report that someone had threatened to sexually assault her. She says she was terrified because she believed the call was from a local number. Mey said she then bolted the door and got her husband's gun out of the dresser and hung it on the bedpost in her bedroom.

At the time, Mey said she didn't make a connection between that call and the collectors. But then she learned the call hadn't come from the local sheriff's office after all. The caller ID had been manipulated to look like it did, a practice called spoofing. That's when she went online and discovered complaints about RFA debt collectors pretending to call from sheriff's offices, including a male collector who called women vulgar names.

Last May, Mey sued RFA for harassment and illegal collection practices. In August, RFA's lawyer failed to show up in court, so Mey testified unopposed. The judge called RFA's actions "malicious" and ruled that all of the allegations were true. And then he awarded that record judgment of $10,860,000.

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I hate that company, they used to call my cell every other month for almost 3 years, calling for the wrong person too saying that I owed money. Each time it was the same person. I told them over and over that they had the wrong name, and finally they threatened to take legal action because I was "lying". I also tried over and over calling them to get me off their list and they always said that it was taken care of.

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As much as she is in the right, the 10million is ridiculous, even 1 would be, but I could see 1 making sense in a making a statement kind of way.

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I use to get these kind of calls from debt agency and was annoying..

I am debt free so i registered on donotcall and stopped getting calls.

This lady went a step ahead.

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I have a debt I disagree with that a debt collection agency keep writing to me about

They send scary red letters saying how its going to go to court and a warrant issued but if I want to pay a percentage of the debt back it will all go away

Then a few weeks later another letter with a different company name on the header saying that they have been sold the debt and they are now looking for xx% of it to end the problem

I'm just collecting the letters and not replying

few weeks later another red letter with another company name at the top, same story, they have now been sold the debt from company number 2 and if I pay x% of the debt they will also go away

This keeps happening for months and months, every few weeks a new letter with a different company name at the top saying they have bought the debt and will I pay part to end the debt

I've got about 10 letters with about 5 or 6 different company names on them all claiming to be different firms

I did some investigating using those sites that give company licence details and surprise surprise they are one and all the same under different aliases

Also found some videos from watchdog complaining about their tactics and lies to gain money from people under false pretences

Their letters basically say (without actually saying it) that a shed load of nasty things are going to happen if it is not paid.

Their mistakes imo, were sending so many letters quite soon after each other from different company names, and also only asking for part of the debt to be paid.

I still have not replied and so far there has only been like 1 letter this year from them, but I have all my old letters and the different stuff I found out about them saved ready.

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A few years ago, I had a debt collection agency chase me for another debt an ex took out a loan at her property but had me named on it for some reason, anyway, I emailed the debt collection agency back asking them to provide me with the address of the debt, the company I owed the debt to, and most importantly, how they gained my current name and address.

At that point I had never signed any electoral role forms or the voting register, nor had I registered on any credit reference agencies

I received a letter from them basically saying they were sorry they got it wrong, they were looking for a different person with my exact name and DOB and address and they hoped that ended our communications with each other and suggested that I registered with a credit reference agency to avoid further mistakes

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I have a debt I disagree with that a debt collection agency keep writing to me about.

They send scary red letters saying how its going to go to court and a warrant issued but if I want to pay a percentage of the debt back it will all go away.

Then a few weeks later another letter with a different company name on the header saying that they have been sold the debt and they are now looking for xx% of it to end the problem.

I'm just collecting the letters and not replying.

They will dig up your body after you die, and remove your gold fillings ... :laugh:

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When I was in college, I randomly started getting magazine trial subscriptions sent to my apartment. Mind you, it was totally worthless women's health and gardening stuff that had no relevance to a male or my life. And then after the expiration notice of these trials, I would start getting "bills" for the complete year subscriptions that they demanded I pay for. After a few attempts at that, they would start sending me threats of lawsuits and whatever other sad attempts at getting me to fork over money. They were some pretty nasty threats too. It got to the point that I was about to get a lawyer and go after these people, but the lease on my apartment was about up, so I figured the next tenants could get a nice laugh at reading the threat letters if they kept coming in.

It makes me wonder how many people actually fall for those scare tactics and fork over the money.

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i have just been blocking their calls lately, i am already in garnishment (which means we went to court and I lost) the Goverment is taking their money from my paychecks. and Yet is still receive calls from them telling me that they are going to sue me and take my house.. the best part is I have never own a house or any property. I do not even own a car.

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As someone who did the training to become a debt collector I can say that it's a very sleazy industry. -.-

I worked for 2 companies for a total of 10 days (5 each) and told both my managers to go fornicate under carnal knowledge themselves, that I wasn't going to do the harrasment they wanted me to. One of the companies doctored my ROE/T4 slips and when I took them to the Labour Board and Revenue Canada/HRSDC the forms they showed were different than the ones I had. They were fined heavily, and I got a ton of 'severence' pay.
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